Whispers of Darkness
by The ch0sen 0ne
Summary: Darkness engulfs Hyrule, as a new evil rises out of the fiery deaths of the Underworld. It is time once again, for Link to save the world from evil itself... But where is he?
1. Night

**Night…**

As the sun set and the moon took its place, pitch black engulfed Hyrule Castle. The towns people had all settled in for the night after a long day's work, and the town gate's had already been drawn to keep the unwanted out for the night. Still guards had been set up at the gate and scattered throughout the entire town just incase any tried to attack at night. They could never be too careful ever since the princess had resumed her role as leader of the Castle.

It had been years since Gannon had ruled the city, and since then the destroyed town had been rebuilt to resemble its once beautiful castle. Many houses had to be rebuilt after many of Gannon's followers had destroyed the previous ones, and a new castle was rebuilt upon the ruins of its predecessor. It was planned to build a castle bigger and better then the previous, but with the landscape bare and construction still occurring throughout the town, the towering castle looked out of place. With its golden trimming outlining the castles brilliance, stained glass windows depicting a hero clad in green, and beautiful white washed stone constructing the outer walls of the fortress, the castle did not look as if it belonged in this empty village.

The Princess though knew that one day the town and castle would regain its name, but she knew that it would still be years before the town reached that point. It had already been two years of rebuilding and with scattered attacks of the remains of Gannon's army, it seemed that it would take forever to rebuild the city. Even with Link heading the search for the remaining soldiers, she knew that it would also take time to obliterate the last remains of Gannondorf. Unfortunately with the soldiers still out there, she knew that they would never truly be able to finish construction, but at the time it seemed as if her beliefs were false. No attacks had taken place so far, and with every new letter from Link on the continuous searches it seemed as if he and the soldiers were about to finish their journey, diminishing the last of the once elaborate army of Gannondorf.

Morale was a high in the town and with the gradual news of Link and his soldiers, the towns-people started to work more vigorously trying to gain their old peaceful lives back, and on the other side of the world Link felt the same way. His soldiers were defeating their foes with ease now, and though their journey had been occurring for about a straight six months, they were still alert and tedious when it came to protecting their friends and family from the last of Gannondorf's army.

The army created for the town of Hyrule was a group of top notch warriors, and they had lost only two men so far in their battles, and even now they were still on the top of their game. During their battles they found ways of entertaining themselves by seeing who could defeat the most warriors, but they never did lose sight of their true goals of protecting Hyrule. It had been thought that it would take a year to two to find all of Gannondorf's minions, but now Link believed that they would be finished in only about a month. Hopes were high that they would finally be able to go home, and as they set up camp for the night Link spotted shadow in the distance... He could not tell from where he was what the shadow was, but he felt a shiver run through his spine as the shadow glared directly at him.

Not wanting to scare whatever it was away he slowly groped for his sliver and bow which he had laid down beside him, and as his hands reached his sliver he drew an arrow. He then slid the arrow into the torch lighting it on fire. He then swiftly slipped the arrow onto the string of his bow and drew back aiming carefully yet quickly. Then after aiming he let go of the arrow, and as it flew through the air it illuminated its path, and as it reached the shadow the figure ominously disappeared… It must have been just his imagination.

As he stood up to do his midnight patrol of the camp, he found that all soldiers were now sound asleep. They must have all been exhausted from the battle with the Deelers (poisonous spiders) and the Dodongos that had been scattered throughout the forest. They had fought on and off through the entire day, and finally they had found a bare area where they were able to set up a temporary camp for the night.

Now though, at the middle of the night, no foes were in sight and all was quiet. He circled around the camp a few times, but failing in finding any disturbance or foe, he slipped back into his tent and distinguished the torch lit outside his bed…

Within seconds he was asleep.

Many miles away, in Hyrule Castle, a man emerged from an ally, making sure to avoid the guards that were patrolling the area. This man, swiftly moved from one ally to another, and as he reached the town's walls he ran face first into a guard.

"Wuh! I-Its…", but before the Guard was able to finish his sentence the man drew his sword from its hilt and silenced the guard with a smirk.

"I really need to work on my stealth," the man thought to himself as he quickly hid the man behind a gathering of bushes.

The next morning the guard was found by a child that accidentally kicked his ball into the bush. Many of the princesses soldiers were dispatched to search for the assassin that had murdered the unlucky guard, but the search came up dry. They never did discover who murdered the guard that night.


	2. The Letter

**The Letter…**

Princess Zelda,

Today was an odd day, for we have not encountered one foe or even living thing within the forest. We have scoured near and far, yet it seems this area is now empty of all foes. We must have scared them off when they found out we were able to defeat five Dodongos head on yesterday. It was a fight that I will remember forever, I don't think I have ever seen my men fight with such spirit during this entire trip. They have battled many foes, and one would think that by now they would be tired and reluctant to fight. You truly sent me the best of your men, for they have not once complained about the food rations that are steadily depleting, the brutal heats that the area reaches during mid day, nor even the amount of battles we have on a daily basis.

As I sit here writing, I am watching our men singing and telling jokes to one-another as if we were still in the town. They show no hint of sorrow or anger in their gleeful eyes, and it is amazing to see them relaxed and calm. The men are able to find happiness in the smallest of things, for I think this celebration is for the cloud coverage that we have today. It must be the 20th celebration this week. I must say, if they keep the celebrations up we will run out of food and drink quickly, but still I can not stop them from celebrating

On another note, I must alert you that I did spot something last night that might be of some interest. Last night, when all the men were sleeping nicely in their tents I saw a figure. A shadowy figure perched at the top of a hill, a mile away. Now, this figure though was no ordinary figure, it resembled… Wuh - someone just screamed… I must go…

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The letter ended, and Zelda was left thinking of what might have happened in the camp. She read through the letter once more, making sure that she had not missed anything, but after reading once more she had not found anything new. She turned to the back of the letter, hoping that he had just continued on the opposite side, but the side was blank. Nothing to let her know what might have happened, but she could only wonder if this figure had anything to do with the guard that had been killed the night before.

She knew it was absurd, seeing as the castle was many a mile away from the camp site, but the thought stayed in her head for the rest of the day.

As time went by, her imagination took the best of her, and it seemed every hour she had thought up of a new situation in which Link would be in grave danger. In one scenario a gang of pirates had kidnapped the soldiers, and made them clean their fortress. Odd yes, but it could happen.

"Link must be in danger…" Zelda murmured to herself as she frantically paced back and forth in the castle's garden, "Why else would a soldier scream. They are highly trained warriors, and they do not scream often… Then again, the soldier could have just stubbed a toe on a rock or something to that extant…"

She could never come up with a rock solid idea of what could have created the scream, but now with this letter she held in her hand she had to make a decision. Would she take the remaining guards off duty and send them to check up on Link, or pray and hope that it was just an accident and nothing really happened. The only thing that kept her from sending guards to Link's rescue was the knowledge that if an attack were to occur while the rest of the soldiers were away, the castle would be helpless and would fall quickly.

Deciding to wait and hope that another letter would come from Link describing what had happened, she continued her life as if she had never received the letter. She would inspect the town on a daily basis to see the progress that the townspeople were making, she would answer the complaints of farmers and villagers alike that felt that they had been wronged, and she waited for that one letter to come that would explain everything to her.

As weeks flew by, no letter arrived explaining what had happened, and now worried that something truly had happened she made a bold decision… The soldiers were to move out the next morning and investigate the supposed disappearance of Link and his soldiers… They town was to be left unguarded, and Zelda prayed to the gods above that the soldiers would find her beloved husband. For if they did not, she would be sent into a world of chaos and confusion… She needed to find her love.

The next morning, the soldiers were sent out riding the fastest steeds in the town to find the lost soldiers, and as Zelda watched as the last of them left and the bridge was drawn, she hoped and prayed that her husband would be found in the forest… She hoped that nothing had happened to him, and she hoped that it had all been in her imagination... She hoped that Link was still alive.

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Miles away from Zelda, the murder watched as the soldiers marched past him in two five rows of five. "All according to my plans…" the man murmured to himself, and with that the figure disappeared from the hill.


End file.
